Innes Ireland

Now here is a man of his word—and it cost him dearly. In 1961, Innes agreed to drive for Formula One team UDT-Laystall run by Ken Gregory and Alfred Moss, respectively Stirling’s manager and father. Literally a day later, Ireland was asked to become Graham Hill’s teammate at BRM but he declined, saying he had given his word to Gregory and Moss and could not break it.

Ironically, in 1962 the UDT-Laystall V8 Climax-engined Lotus 24 was a massive flop in which Ireland retired from just about every championship race in which he competed, but the BRMs were a huge success. Hill and his team went on to win the year’s two Formula One titles and a lot more besides as long as the 1.5-liter formula remained in force.